Abstract The aim of this study is to find out how teachers view the importance of reading in the teaching of foreign languages. In relation to this, we wish to gain understanding of what teachers want to achieve with reading, how they choose texts and what difficulties they encounter in getting their students to read. Six teachers from three different upper secondary schools in southern Sweden were interviewed for the study. We also examined the text-materials that they were using for their instruction. The findings show that students read mostly adapted texts from textbooks and, to a limited extent, authentic materials.

This essay investigates and compares the readability in two different schoolbooks: Eko Historia (the primary school grade 4-6) and Epos Historia (the upper secondary school). The questions of the survey are:- Which differences in linguistic and layout can be found between books meant for the primary school and books meant for the upper secondary school?- Are the texts easy to read according to the former research in readability?In order to answer the questions structural dimensions as lexicon, syntax, bounds between sentences and narrative voices have been studied. Also the texts disposition and typography have been examined.The results demonstrate that the book designed for the primary school has a verbal structure with an explicit vocabulary, lots of verbs and short sentences. A clear narrative voice gives an impression of spoken language.

AbstractThis study is based on my work as a secondary school teacher of literature and the Swedish language and rooted in my interest in developing knowledge about the importance of teaching literature in order to both cultivate young people?s reading habits and their view of themselves as readers. The more concrete purpose of this study is to examine a reading project that focuses on theories of literary perception and teaching literature.I examine four pupils who, in 2003, participated in the reading project as readers and compare this description with their view of themselves as readers seven years later. I complete the study by examining how they discuss reading and the teaching of literature. The method is qualitative and the empirics include materiel collected in two different time periods: first in 2003, in a class I taught in a secondary school; and second in 2010, when I examined four of the former pupils who participated in the project from 2003.

The aim of this thesis is to study the reading habits of Swedish librarians visualized by librarians from Götabiblioteken ? a collaboration of 14 public libraries in mid-Sweden ? focusing on the reading done on their spare time, even if work-related. We started with a survey sent out to 74 librarians in October 2013, answered by 56, and followed up by interviewing 7 of them in November.We tried to answer these questions:To what extent does the working librarians read on their spare time compared to before they started working?What literature do they read, now compared to before they started working?To what extent does their perception of what they should have read affect their private reading?In what way does a librarian in the beginning of their career differ in reading habits from the reading habits of a librarian with many years in the profession?The result of our study shows that most of the librarians read as much or more than before they started to work. They are more selective in their choice of literature and are affected by their work in it in different ways.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how students in higher education use talking books. This has been inves-tigated through qualitative interviews with nine students. The intention has been to find out how they use talk-ing books and why they have chosen to do it in the way they have, looking specifically on whether there are strategies shared by most of the interviewees.As a theoretical basis of the thesis I have chosen a study, described by Sigrid Hongset, where dyslectic pu-pils tried using printed text and text on tape, as well as both simultaneously. George Kingsley Zipfs ?Principle of least effort? will act as a supplemental theory.The interviews show that the students use talking books in different ways.

The purpose of this study is to examine what view librarians have on reading promotion for adults, in particular reading circles, and in which way earlier experiences, education and competence form this view. To what extent, if any, do perceptions of professional identity influence the interest to carry out some kind of reading circles for adults?Our study is based on qualitative interviews with librarians, both those in charge of reading circles in libraries and those who are not. As theoretical starting point we have used Andrew Abbott's work on theory of professions and Jofrid Karner Smidt's thesis on literary preferences and different kinds of mediation of literature. For our analysis we will also use earlier studies on the subject to place our study in a wider context.Our conclusions show that the librarians in our study have an ambivalent view on their profession and professional identity.

The purpose of this master?s thesis is to investigate the reading habits of six men who do not read fiction. The reason for my interest is the fact that men statistically read less fiction than women, and that there are few existing studies of this subject. The study investigates why these men do not read fiction, their attitudes towards literature, their reading habits, their leisure-time interests and if they experience fiction from other activities. Furthermore the study includes a discussion of whether or not there might be a connection between the men?s reading habits and their identity as men, as well as a discussion of all of the above in relation to their social background.

This master thesis deals with reading and library habits among young male students at the vehicle engineering programme in an upper secondary school. Also their overall opinion of libraries has been looked into. For the completion of this study all of the 43 students in question took part in a questionnaire while 5 of them were interviewed. The result of this statistical survey complemented with more focused interviews show that at some time or another all the students read, but their preference lies within the news and engineering pages of daily newspapers and periodicals. Those who read books choose action and fantasy for content.

The object of this master thesis is to study the reading practices offive women as they themselves remember them from theirchildhood and youth in the middle of the 20th century. The study inparticular targets the respondents? reading in relation to the normsfor girls? and young women?s reading at the time. The thesis takesas its starting point the presentation of the respondents´ readingmemories, based on motifs, preferences and experiences. Equallyimportant is the presentation of the relationship between thesememories and the social discourse their reading practices were partof.

This two years master´s thesis examines how books and literature can strengthen the contact between imprisoned fathers and their children, and the connection between the treatment of offenders and education in Sweden. The methods used are interviews and textual analysis. The theoretical starting points are influenced by Bernt Gustavssons works concerning the concept of education (the Swedish term ?bildning?) and Foucaults thoughts on the subject of power and its relation to knowledge and resistance.Through history many attempts have been made to ?cure? those who commit criminal acts by educating them, at first to enable them to get employed after serving their sentence, the education thus being for the greater good of the society in general, but since the 1940?s the aim has shifted towards education for the individuals own personal development and readjustment to society.The findings indicate that the service provided to prisons by public libraries play an important role for the inmates, as a source of books for amusement and diversion as well as providing the means for education. This thesis examines four reading programmes in prison, in order to establish their place in the tradition of education within the Swedish penal system.

The aim of the study is to examine a book used as level-based teaching material, Denmagiska kulan (Wänblad, 2011), to analyse the progression within and between thedifferent levels, A, B and C, intended for use in grade 1. The material is designed so thatpupils at different levels in their reading development can share the same literature.Another aim is to study the connection between illustrations and text. This literaturestudy is based on both a qualitative and a quantitative method of analysis. Thequalitative method applies a readability analysis with the focus on the graphic form andthe language of the text. The quantitative method measures the LIX (readability index)of the texts.

The aim of the study was to explore how persons with aphasiaexperience literacy and reading and writing. Seven persons with mild-moderateaphasia were interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed andanalysed using qualitative content analysis. The analysis resulted in three mainthemes; A changed reading, A changed writing and How to adjust andaccommodate to new conditions. The most apparent aspect was that theinformants experienced that literacy had changed, regarding what and how theyread/write.

The purpose ot this study is to investigate how two teachers of fifth grade say they are working with reading comprehension in their teaching. Furthermore the aim is to investigate how the teachers' instruction in reading cmprehension expresses itself. The study was conducted from a teachers perspective and the questions that the stydy will answer are: How do two teachers in fifth grade believe they should teach in order to develop reading comprehension among their own students, and what methods, activities and materials are the teachers using in order to develop students' reading omprehension in the educational practise. The methods used during the study were interviews and observations. The observations were made in order to complete the picture from the interviews.

AbstractThe present thesis examines reading acquisition. The aim of the study is to gain a deepened understanding of various methods used for reading acquisition, how teachers? are dealing with these methods and what aspects require special attention. The overall research question of the thesis is: How can one assess children?s future reading ability and identify a method that is appropriate to this ability? The overall aim leads to several more specifically addressed issues.In the theoretical part, different perspectives and theories about reading acquisition are presented along with different methods for how to work in order to facilitate reading.

Swedish students' knowledge of both mathematics and reading comprehension has deteriorated in recent years. Scientists are discussing whether there is a connection between these areas and that the pupils deteriorating math skills may have something to do with their increasingly lower results in terms of reading comprehension. To investigate this possible connection, I conducted a survey among students in ninth grade and have come to the conclusion that the scientists are right: this connection absolutely exist. Students who received a high score on tasks designed to test students' mathematical problem-solving skills, also received high results on the reading comprehension test. And students who received a poor performance on the problem-solving tasks, were also low performers in the reading comprehension test.